A Different Kind of War
by Sir Cameron Dragic
Summary: Gino Weinberg is an up and coming detective in the Britannian Police Department. Through his rise through the ranks of the department, he will be faced with corruption, scandals, and the darkness of the criminal underworld. Can he survive and stay true to his morals, or will he join the ranks those before him who have tried and failed?
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Officer Gino Weinberg was bored out of his mind. When he had graduated from the police academy, he had expected to be in car chases, shootouts, and drug busts. You know, exciting things. He didn't expect to be patrolling the streets to keep an eye out for Elevens that broke curfew.

Even though they were a rebellious and prideful people, most Elevens didn't break curfew. It was dangerous to be out in the ghetto at night, for Britannians and Elevens alike. So, usually that meant that Gino and Suzaku would patrol for a few hours without incident before returning to the station and filling out a report that detailed how little they did. After that, they would go their separate ways and the cycle would repeat the next day. Life was nothing but cycles, he had learned over the years.

"Man, is anything interesting ever going to happen?" He groaned, leaning back against his seat in Suzaku's standard issue Ford Taurus. Although officers were usually allowed to choose any car they wanted, Suzaku decided to stay with the standard issue car. It definitely wasn't the one that Gino would have picked, but then again, it wasn't his choice.

"Come on, our patrol's almost over. Stop complaining." Suzaku Kururugi, his partner, chided from the driver's seat. He was currently the senior officer that was in charge of showing Gino the ropes, although he was only a year or two older. He was an Honorary Britannian, so despite the fact that he had already made several major arrests, it was unlikely that he would ever get promoted, hence, he was stuck with Gino for now.

Over the course of the last few weeks, Gino had gotten a sense of what kind of person Suzaku was. He took his job very seriously, and was really a great mentor to have, even if Gino didn't tell him that. Still, Gino knew that he really led a hard life as the son of the last Prime Minister of Area Eleven. Despite having more experience and did a better job in general than Gino did, he was still discriminated against at the station while Gino was left alone for the most part.

Honestly, Gino had no idea why one's heritage was such a big deal. If someone was trying to help the community, why should their race be of any concern? But maybe that's the thinking that led to his falling out with his family.

He looked out past the dashboard into the dark streets of the ghetto and ran a finger through his blond locks. It was hard to believe that this area had once been a major city, bustling with life. Now, it was just a collection of ruined buildings that the poorest Elevens used for housing. It was really a depressing notion.

Japan had been easily defeated by Britannia several years earlier under the lead of Emperor James. After the death of Genbu Kururugi, the Japanese defensive effort quickly became disorganized and Britannia took advantage of that, destroying the individual groups that had sprouted up to stop their assault. Honestly, if the Japanese had banded together and mounted one defensive effort, there was a good chance that the Britannian invasion would have failed. There was also a good chance that Gino wouldn't be here.

He had run away from home a year earlier due to a fight with his parents. He had thought about joining the military, but since Britannia had not been waging any wars at the time, Gino had decided to join the police. But now, due to the extreme boredom he was suffering through, he was beginning to regret his decision.

"I'm just saying, I wish something interesting would happen once in a while. Don't tell me you don't feel that way too."

As if on cue, the police radio crackled to life. Interested, Suzaku pulled the car over and listened to the dispatcher.

"All units in the area. I repeat, all units in the area. Does anyone copy?"

"This is Unit 2098. What is the situation?" Suzaku asked, answering the radio.

"There has been a shooting in the Ghetto near your location. We suspect that terrorists might be behind it. We'll send you the coordinates now." Came the response as the coordinates were remotely entered into the GPS.

The GPS of their small sedan immediately began spouting out directions. Gino gave a grin and quickly began adjusting his uniform.

"Well Gino, you asked for some excitement. You're about to get some." Suzaku said, gripping the wheel tightly, trying not to show his mutual excitement. He desperately wanted a case so that he would have a chance to prove himself. So far, nothing he had done had impressed enough to get him promoted. Suzaku knew that if he wanted to change Britannia, he would not be doing it as a beat cop.

Unsurprisingly, they pulled up in front of a dark alleyway with another car already there. Suzaku turned off the engine, although in the dark night, the smoke rising from the car was clearly evident. Gino eagerly opened the door and waited for Suzaku to do the same. He heard some glass crunch underneath his boots as he took a step, reminding him of just how dilapidated the ghettos really were.

"Are you two the officers that they sent to me?" An orange haired man in a brown suit and a white dress shirt asked with a notepad in his hand. As he looked up, Gino could feel his violet eyes boring a hole through him.

"Yes sir." Suzaku and Gino both said with a salute.

"Okay, I'm Detective Bradley with the Homicide Division. Here you two go. It's just some no name Britannian. Probably just a mugging gone bad. Look for clues or whatever if you want, but don't feel bad if you can't find anything." He said casually, closing his notepad and walking back to his car.

"Wait, you're leaving the investigation to us?" Suzaku asked incredulously.

"Yep. These kinds of homicides happen all of the time in the ghetto. As far as I'm concerned, this had nothing to do with terrorists, so it really isn't important if we find the killer or not. Just remember to file the report and we'll be fine." Detective Bradley said before getting into his car and driving away, leaving the two alone in the empty alleyway.

The alley stood in between the ruins of a restaurant and what used to be an office building. The ground was strewn with litter as well as some bits and pieces of the surrounding buildings. The alley would have been pitch black if they had not left the headlights on, although their vision was restricted to basically a small cone of light.

Gino took a quick look around, but didn't see anything too out of the ordinary. Deciding that he wouldn't get anything from his surroundings, he strode over to the body and inspected it. The victim was a fairly young Britannian male with blond hair, with blue eyes, still open in an expression of shock. Utterly disgusted by the look, Gino gently closed the man's eyelids. He looked to be in his late twenties and was rather skinny, although it was clear that he was not underfed. He was dressed in a black suit and a white shirt stained red with blood.

"Now why would someone dressed so well be in the ghettos?" Gino whispered to himself, now noticing the neatly polished dress shoes that the man also happened to be wearing. They had been cleaned until they acted as small black mirrors, allowing Gino to see his own reflection.

Taking a closer look, he noticed that the man had an expensive looking watch as well. So this wasn't a mugging. No, this man had expensive clothes, shoes, and watches. However, nothing was taken. There was definitely something not right about finding him here.

Gino decided that inspecting the wound would give him a better idea of what happened. It looked like he had been shot right in the stomach and had bled out in the alley from the pool of blood surrounding him. However, the man was well fed and still fairly athletic, yet there were no signs of a struggle. So the man must have known his killer well.

"Suzaku, you want to take a look around? I'll check out the body some more."

Nodding, his partner went off to search for clues.

"So, what do we have here?" Gino whispered as he knelt down next to the body. Beside him lay an opened bag. He rifled through the contents of the bag, finding nothing but some random documents. However, the bag had clearly been searched, but it didn't seem like anything was missing. It was likely that the assailant had searched the bag for valuables.

He quickly searched the man's pockets, finding nothing but small pocketknife, although that was to be expected. After all, he was in a pretty shady neighborhood. He took a careful look around the man's body when he noticed a small package in his hand. He gently picked up the man's hand, which was still warm, and pried open his fingers. The small brown vial was unmistakable. Refrain.

Refrain was a popular drug among the Elevens because it allowed them to essentially relive their pasts. It was considered highly addictive and dangerous to production, and thus it was banned. But it was clear to anyone that the law didn't keep people from smuggling it into Area Eleven. It was still easily obtainable, although anyone caught with it could be issued a twenty year sentence in jail.

That didn't explain why a Britannain had it though. Britannains for the most part, had absolutely no use for Refrain. The Elevens used it to relive their days before Britannia had conquered them, but most Britannians lived comfortable lives, so they rarely used Refrain. This was especially true for businessmen, who were more likely to sell Refrain than to use it themselves.

"Hey Gino! I found something!" Suzaku's voice rang out. Gino quickly stood up and pocketed the Refrain tube before running over to him.

Suzaku was standing by a trashcan with a small pistol in his hands.

"I think I found the murder weapon." Suzaku said.

Gino nodded in agreement. It was likely that the suspect had shot the Britannian and tossed the gun in the trash as he left. Although, that just begged the question: what was a Britannian doing here? As far as Gino could tell, there was nothing of interest in the local area and this alley was quite a ways from the main settlement.

"So, did you find anything?"

Gino nodded, pulling out the vial in his pocket, "Looks like he had some Refrain on him."

Suzaku nodded slowly, "He was probably killed over some drugs then."

Well, that did make a little more sense. Maybe the man had come here to meet his dealer. But that still didn't make much sense. If he really was shot by his dealer, he would definitely have been robbed. After all, drug dealing wasn't the most lucrative business. Or perhaps, he was the dealer himself? Gino knew that a large amount of Britannian businessmen dealt Refrain to the Elevens on the side.

"Should we investigate this more?" Gino asked, hoping for Suzaku to say yes.

"I don't see why not."

Smiling despite the morbid situation, Gino quickly glanced down the alley, "Is there a gun store of something like that nearby?"

Suzaku saw an Eleven pass by and quickly ran over to him. The two quickly conversed in Japanese, with the man pointing and gesturing. Gino smiled. Suzaku was definitely a resourceful cop. As the two finished up, Suzaku turned to Gino and gave him a nod. If there was one thing that you could be sure to find in the ghettos, it was weapons.

The two pulled up in front of a small building. The wooden sign above the store simply read, "Weapons." In the ghettos, that was all one needed to get some business.

Gino carefully walked in, inspecting the small shop. It had a crude layout. There were four wooden tables with guns and knives strewn out across them and a small wooden counter at the back of the room.

As soon as they walked in, the owner, a short man in his forties, shot out of the plastic chair he had been reclining in.

"Ah! Officers. I'm not doing anything wrong in here. This is a completely legitimate business!"

"We're not here about your business." Suzaku interrupted, "We're here about this." He pulled out the small gun had they had found in the trash can and held it up.

"Do you remember selling this gun?" Gino asked, prompting the man to sit back and think.

"I'll need to get a closer look."

Suzaku walked across the room and placed it into the shop keeper's outstretched hand. The man quickly pulled out a small book and began flipping through the pages.

"Ah, yes. I sold this last week to a Britannian."

"Can you describe him?"

The man thought for a moment before nodding, "He had black hair and I think he was wearing a fancy suit. Yep, that was him. I can remember because he had a golden watch on his wrist. I don't know if it was fake gold, but it looked pretty real from here."

"A rich Britannian in a suit, huh? This doesn't seem like just some mugging to me." Gino told Suzaku, who nodded in agreement.

"Did he leave you any information?" Suzaku asked.

The man shook his head, "He just walked in and gave a hundred dollars in cash for a pistol and walked right out. I never even got his name."

Gino frowned. That definitely wasn't much to go on.

"Okay, thank you for your time. Please call us if you can remember anything else."

"Sure, you got it."

* * *

"So, what else do you know?"

Gino and Suzaku looked at each other for a moment before Gino decided to respond.

"That's it."

Jeremiah Gottwald was a patient man, which is why he was being patient with the two instead of yelling at them for wasting his time.

"Look, I appreciate the hard work, but let's leave this alone. Honestly, we've got nothing and no guarantee that this isn't some wild goose chase. I'm sorry, but I can't waste any resources on this. We're stretched thin enough as it is with all of the terrorist activity. Just hand me a report by tomorrow." He sighed.

Gino was a hard worker, especially considering the fact that he had grown up as a noble. Most nobles didn't want to work hard and put in effort, but Gino was different and he liked that. Still, the boy was trying to look for connections that weren't there. He could understand his enthusiasm. If he had managed to make a big arrest, that, coupled with his social status, would definitely get him promoted to detective.

* * *

"Morning Gino." Suzaku greeted as the blond made his way to his desk with a cup of coffee. Gino grunted a response and sat down at his desk, prompting a small smile from Suzaku. He knew that Gino was not a morning person and he usually wasn't his usual bubbly self early in the day.

He sat down in the cheap wooden desk he had been assigned to. Most of the Britannian police officers worked on the ground floor, where most offices and desks were located. For most, this would be the area they worked in their whole lives. On the second and third floor were the Traffic and Arson offices, where usually the inexperienced detectives placed first. And finally, on the fourth and fifth floors were the Homicide and Vice offices, with the sixth floor reserved as the office of the Chief of Police.

Gino aspired to work Homicide or Vice, as those two were the two most illustrious jobs for a policeman, but he had to make an arrest first before he could even think about moving up.

For now, he had to be content with writing out his report of the homicide that he had investigated the night before. Just as he began writing the report, two officers to his right got out of their seats.

"Hey, Li, what's going on?" He asked the black haired officer. Li Xingke had once been an officer of the Chinese Federation, but once the country had devolved into civil war from internal problems, he, along with his trusty aid Zhou Xianglin, had fled to Area Eleven and joined the police force, as that usually led to more respect from native Britannians. Because they were not Numbers, they did command some respect, though not as much as Britannians.

"Zhou and I just got a call about a bank robbery." He quickly replied, following his brown haired partner.

Just as they left the room, Suzaku and Gino both got the same call.

"I got the car." Suzaku said, quickly grabbing his keys.

"I'm right behind you." Gino responded, following his partner.

* * *

"Just try and stop us!" The masked robber yelled out, waving around his machine gun. Another robber fired off a warning shot from his shotgun, forcing the officers to stay at their cars.

"What's the situation?" Gino asked as he and Suzaku pulled up.

"There are six robbers in there. Two of them have machine guns and the other four have shotguns, and they've taken a hostage. They have too much firepower for us to take right now, so we're waiting for SWAT to come." Li replied, ducked behind the hood of his police car.

"Do we know who these guys are?" Gino asked, trying to avoid getting shot.

Li nodded, "We think they're Royal Family. One of them had a tattoo of a crown on his neck."

Gino grimaced at that fact. The Royal Family was the most organized crime family in all of Area Eleven. They claimed to be the rightful heirs of the Britannian throne and even had taken the Britannain name. Their leader was Charles zi Britannia, a mysterious man who was never seen in public, but was at the same time, the most feared man in Area Eleven.

After him came the rest of his family. The most well known of his sons was Schneizel, who was expected to compete with, and beat out the other children to become the next head of the family. Although they were all technically part of the same gang, each of Charles' children operated individual groups that were largely independent of each other except when it was necessary to band together.

Despite all of the knowledge they had about them though, there was no way to know exactly where they were. They had an intricate web of informants and subordinates that always kept them one step ahead of the police. In fact, it was suspected that they had some moles in the police force, although it had yet to be proven.

"From the looks of it, it seems like they're part of Clovis' cell." Li informed him.

Gino nodded as he took in the information. Just then, a barrage of machine gun fire came at them, forcing him to duck down as well. He pulled his gun out his holster, appreciating the feeling of it in his hand. He preferred not to use the handgun he was issued, instead relying on a .44 Magnum M29, although it rarely, if ever, saw use.

"Ah!" Gino looked up to see one of the men dragging along a woman. No doubt she was a teller.

"I don't think we have enough time to wait for SWAT. They're going to escape, and when they do, they won't need the hostages anymore." Gino said, inspecting his gun.

He checked the barrel and found that he had it fully loaded. Six bullets for six assailants. Taking a deep breath, Gino tried to calm his nerves.

"Gino what are you doing?" Suzaku asked before Gino leaped out of cover and slid along the hood of the car. Stunned by his sudden movement, one of the robbers released his grip on the woman. It was just enough of an opening for Gino. With a crack, he fired a bullet straight into the robber's forehead. Taking advantage of the fact that he used a double action revolver, Gino fired his second shot into the chest of the shotgun wielding man from before, knocking him from his feet.

He cocked his gun quickly and barrel rolled out of the fire of a machine gun. He quickly dashed towards the entrance of the bank, which was guarded by one man. Before the man could unload his shotgun into Gino, he was tackled to the ground. Gino tried to get a clean shot at the man, but had his revolver knocked away by the butt of the shotgun.

Acting quickly, Gino began to wrestle with the man, trying to get control of the gun. As the two were locked in a struggle, he could notice one more man rushing out to help his partner. Left with no choice, Gino viciously head butted the robber, forcing him to loosen his grip. With this new advantage, Gino quickly the ripped the gun out of his hands and fired up at the incoming man, killing him instantly. With a grunt he got to his feet and pinned the remaining robber underneath his right foot before firing straight into his face.

Four down. Two to go. Exhaling deeply, Gino dropped the shotgun and picked up his trusty revolver. Looking up, his heart dropped as he realized that one of the remaining robbers had a machine gun, with his sights trained directly at him.

Squeezing his eyes closed, Gino took a deep breath. Not even two months into the job, and he was going to die. His parents had been right. There was no way that he had ever been cut out to be a police officer. He was always too rash and never thought things through. And now, it was going to end up killing him. His eyes shut even tighter as he heard the familiar crack of a gunshot. Braced for the impact, Gino opened his eyes defiantly, only to see the robber collapse to the ground.

"Are you okay, partner?" Suzaku asked, running up next to Gino. With his heart beating at a million miles an hour, Gino slowly nodded. Suzaku had just saved his life.

"He's trying to get away!" Li yelled, bringing Gino back to his senses. Gino quickly spotted the man running out the back door and quickly gave pursuit. The man quickly ran out onto the sidewalk, pushing people out of his way. He was easily bigger and stronger than Gino, but was considerably slower. Gino meanwhile, was on an adrenaline high and quickly caught up to the larger man, tackling him to the floor in front of shocked pedestrians.

"Everyone, get out of the way!" He yelled before the man threw him off of his back and onto the pavement. Quickly getting to his feet, Gino assumed a defensive stance. If he was going to beat the man, he had to do it with speed and quickness. The man took a wild swing and Gino quickly ducked underneath before delivering a kick to the man's side. Unfazed, the man took another swing, and Gino stepped back out of his range. As the man stumbled forward, carried by his momentum, Gino grabbed his head and delivered a knee to the man's nose.

The man fell back, clutching his now bloody nose as Gino whipped out handcuffs and secured them around his wrists. As the gang member struggled, a small paper fell out of his pocket.

"You're under arrest for armed robbery and for the assault of an officer of the law." Gino growled, pulling the man to his feet and handing him over to the other officers who had caught up to him.

The officers thanked him and dragged the man away to a police car. Once he made sure that the man was secured, Gino knelt down and examined the paper the man had dropped. The paper only had two words on it: Code R. Not understanding what it meant, he decided to pocket the slip of paper and returned to his partner, who was leaning against their police car.

As Gino walked back to his desk to fill out his report, he was met by a flurry of high fives and congratulations until a voice rang out.

"Weinberg! Pack up your things and get in my office!"

Immediately, the high fives stopped and instead of congratulations, his fellow officers began offering him their condolences.

Tentatively, Gino walked into Captain Gottwald's office with a box of his personal possessions to find Suzaku standing inside of the office as well. As he walked inside, Jeremiah's face lit up in a smile.

"Congratulations. You've been promoted to homicide for your work today. You'll report to your new Captain and your new partner first thing tomorrow."

A huge smile covered Gino's face as he heard that. Just after a few cases, he had already been promoted. But as the second part of the Captain's announcement sunk in, his smile disappeared, "New partner, but does that mean…"

"Yes. Unfortunately, Suzaku will be staying here. Only you were promoted. Good job Weinberg." Jeremiah said, now with considerably less enthusiasm.

"Thank you Captain Gottwald, but with all due respect, I wouldn't even be alive without Suzaku."

"Even so, the Chief only wanted you promoted. Sorry about that Kururugi, but I can't really go against the Chief's orders." Jeremiah apologized. He had taken notice of the fact that Suzaku was an outstanding officer a long time ago, but he knew that with the racial climate, there was no way that the boy would likely never get promoted past his current position.

It was a shame too. Suzaku just so happened to be the only Eleven that he actually liked. While most Elevens were prideful and foolish, Suzaku was a realist and decided not to waste his life fighting against Britannia. There was something refreshing about seeing a man who knew his limits.

"It's fine. I'm just happy to do my job." Suzaku did a surprisingly good job of keeping a smile on his face when all he was clearly disappointed by being passed up again. He had known that it wasn't very likely for him to get promoted, but the rejection still hurt every time.

"Congratulations, I'm happy for you Gino." Suzaku lied through his teeth as he shook his ex partner's hand.

"I'm really sorry about this. You deserve this promotion way more than I do." Gino said, trying to lessen the pain that he knew Suzaku must have been going through.

"It's fine. You've wanted this from the start right? Don't waste this opportunity." Suzaku advised, patting Gino's shoulder.

"Well then. Kururugi, go back to your desk." Suzaku nodded and exited the office, leaving only Jeremiah and Gino in the office. The Captain waited until Suzaku was out of listening range before he stood up and leaned against his desk.

"Look, don't worry about Suzaku. He doesn't blame you for this. He knows that it's not your fault. He'll be all right. He's stronger than you think."

As he said those words, Gino looked through the window of Jeremiah's office to see Suzaku silently writing his report while Li and Zhou tried to comfort him. In that moment, he truly felt sorry for Suzaku. Li and Zhou could easily be promoted, but Suzaku it seemed, was destined to toil away at the bottom, a waste of the talent he had for his job.

Jeremiah placed a hand on Gino's shoulder, drawing his attention.

"Look, you won't be able to focus on your new job if you're worrying about Suzaku. Now go on. You've got the rest of the day off. Just try not to think about it. He'll get what he deserves, eventually."

* * *

**If you are reading my other Code Geass story, Sliding Doors, don't worry, I'm not discontinuing it. However, I've had this written for a long time, and I kind of wanted to put it on to see how people would react to it. I have always been a fan of detective stories, and I feel like putting Code Geass in a noir style just works. And I just adore Gino, so he had to be the up and coming detective. I mean, does anyone else even come close to being more perfect for the role?**

**So, please leave your thoughts below! I would really appreciate any thoughts, either in a review or a PM. **


	2. Chapter 2

**I'll address a few reviews to clear things up. First, the bloodline that I would say is leading the Britannian Empire would be the Stuart bloodline, where I assume that Charles claims his bloodline from in the anime. However, that fact is largely irrelevant to the story, and the monarchy will play little to no part in this story. It is safe to assume that Charles is nothing royal, simply a gangster who has a lot of power. Second, given that the Britannian Empire is based in North America, I found it safe to assume that American manufacturers would pop up, not British, but I can see the reasoning for believing otherwise. In my personal opinion, I find it more likely to have American manufacturers for geographical reasons. **

* * *

Chapter 2

Gino almost fell out of his bed at the blaring of his alarm. With lidded eyes, he peered at the digital clock before slamming his palm down on the snooze button. Groggily, he lifted himself up from underneath his messy white sheets, taking time to adjust to the sunlight pouring into his small studio apartment.

Since his falling out with his parents, Gino had been forced to look for a cheap place to live that he could afford once he had been cut off. The apartment itself was tiny, with only a bedroom, one bathroom, and a small kitchen, but it was in a safe enough neighborhood and was fairly close to the Police Station, so he had figured that it was as good a place to live as any other.

Still rubbing the sleep from his eyes, he stumbled into his small bathroom and placed his hands on his sink, fumbling around for the faucet. He turned the handle, allowing hot water to splash out before cupping his hands underneath and splashing water into his face.

Noticing that there was some stubble on his chin, he took a razor to the hairs, cutting them off cleanly. He inspected his face in the mirror once more, making sure that he looked clean. Today was the day, his first day as a detective. He had to make a good impression right off the bat.

"Come on, this is what you've been waiting for." He whispered to himself.

* * *

"Welcome to Homicide. I'm Captain Darlton." Andreas Darlton was an older man in his forties with short brown hair. From the moment he walked in, Gino could tell that he commanded much more respect and was a much tougher man than Captain Gottwald. There was a large scar running across the man's face, which, coupled with his intense eyes, created an ominous appearance.

"Gino Weinberg." Gino replied, shaking the older man's hand, noticing that the man was looking over his attire with interest. He knew that he was not dressed the best, with a cheap white dress shirt and some black slacks coupled with a plain green tie, but it was the best he could do at the moment.

"Say son, you haven't run into much money recently, have you?" Darlton said interestedly.

Embarrassed by the comment, Gino nodded, "Sorry, I've had a little trouble recently."

Darlton gave him a reassuring pat on the shoulder, "No, don't be sorry about that. I just want you to go talk to someone. Go up to the fifth floor, and go ask for Sergeant Waldstein."

* * *

Gino could feel all eyes on him as he walked up the stairs to the fifth floor, shoes clacking against the hard wood. He peered over the scene in front of him with interest. There were several detectives lounging around, drinking coffee and chatting while others were sitting down at their computers, likely filing reports.

"What do you want?" A bespeckled man in a maroon suit asked, noting that Gino was clearly out of place.

"Oh, I was told to ask for Sergeant Waldstein." Gino replied tentatively, worried at all of the glances he was getting.

"He's in a meeting right now in the conference room." The man replied, pointing to the back of the floor.

Thanking the man, Gino slowly made his way to the room, all the while wondering what exactly was going on.

He opened the door to see six different people lounging around a table. The room was made of glass, so that anyone could see inside the room.

"Uh, Sergeant Waldstein?" Gino said, drawing the attention of the members of the table, who had seemed to be in discussion.

"Who's asking?" A booming voice responded.

"Captain Darlton told me to come ask for you?" Gino stated more like a question.

"Oh, are you Gino Weinberg?" A strongly built man with long blue hair and one eye sewn shut asked, standing up from his chair.

"Yes." He answered, nodding his head.

"All right, close the door." The man ordered, and Gino quickly complied.

Once the door was closed, the man sat back down in his chair.

"All right, do you know why you're here?" He asked, suddenly making Gino nervous with his tone.

"No, I don't." He answered nervously.

"We are a special division of the force that has been formed to deal with the corruption in this town, namely, with the Royal Family. Our job is to hunt down and to eliminate those who have been known to associate and aid the gang, by any means necessary. Several of us will go undercover to try and infiltrate the gang to feed information back to the rest of the squad, who will be acting on our tips to try and take down some of their operations."

"Any means necessary?" Gino gulped.

"That means that we're essentially the gang killing squad." An orange haired man added in a condescending tone.

"Why did Captain Darlton send me here then?" Gino asked.

Bismarck smiled, "Well, I've asked the good captain to keep an eye out for any guys that he thinks are clean. We've been looking at some guys straight out of the academy, but it seems like you fit the bill too."

"What do you mean clean guys?"

"Exactly what it says. We need guys who aren't touched by the mob. Here's a dirty little secret: most guys in this station are tied to the mob in one way or another. Usually, we can only get clean guys out of the academy, but since you look like you got dressed at the dollar store, it's a pretty safe bet that you're not being paid off." Luciano interrupted in his increasingly irritating tone.

"Do you have a problem with me?" Gino snapped at the man, who looked mildly surprised at Gino's tone.

"No, not at all." Luciano replied slowly, stressing each word.

"Luciano, that's enough." Bismarck warned.

At that threat, Luciano decided to shut his mouth, although he still shot daggers at Gino.

"Excuse him. Those officers from vice always have a sense of self importance." Bismarck continued, drawing Gino's attention.

"Now then, what do you say about joining this squad? We'll be off the record, and it'll be dangerous, I'll admit that. This isn't the job of a normal officer. But that'll be our job, to go above and beyond the jobs of regular officers. We will bring down Charles and his gang, even if it costs us our lives. I understand if you don't want to run that risk…"

"No, I'm willing to face the consequences. I signed up to enforce the law, and that's exactly what I'll do." Gino interrupted, to the delight of Bismarck, whose face broke out in a smile.

"Well then, congratulations. You are now part of the Special Police Division, codenamed Knights of the Round."

"Wait a second, you're really letting this kid in?" Luciano exclaimed.

Bismarck turned to Bradley with a displeased look on his face, "Yes Luciano, do you have a problem with my decisions?"

"No sir." Luciano sighed.

"So, let me introduce you to our team." Bismarck began, first walking to a pink haired girl with an indifferent expression on her face.

"This is Anya Alstreim. She'll be part of the squad that will act on the information and acts as our resident weapons expert."

The girl merely nodded her head in greeting before she went back to fiddling on her phone.

"Moving on, meet Dorothea Ernst, also part of the squad that will act on our information, acting as squad leader." Bismarck introduced a dark skinned woman who had been studying Gino with an intense face.

Gliding to the other side of the table, Bismarck stopped beside a smiling woman with pale green hair, "This is Nonette Enneagram, the last member of the squad who will act upon the information we feed them."

"I believe you have already noticed this man here, Luciano Bradley. He'll be going undercover and supplying us with information." Bismarck said quickly before moving on to a woman with long blond hair and bangs that came down over her face.

"And this is Monica Kruszewski, she will also be going undercover with you two."

Bismarck stopped and gave a little bow, "Finally, I am Sergeant Bismarck Waldstein. I will be overseeing the operations as well as offering support to those in the field."

"Great, now we can leave." Luciano said lazily, standing up from his chair.

"Hold it right there. I haven't said anything of the sort. Luciano, since you've been so kind to Gino, I would feel bad if I left you out. Now take Gino here to get a new suit. He won't be able to infiltrate anything looking like that. Monica, go along with them just in case. The rest of you can leave." Bismarck ordered.

Grumbling, Luciano jerked his hand towards the door, indicating that Gino and Monica should follow him.

Wordlessly, Luciano led Gino down a flight of stairs that led directly underneath the station and into the parking lot.

Luciano fished a pair of keys out of his pockets and hopped into a red convertible Ford Mustang.

Shocked at the car and in wonder as to how a police officer had enough money to own such a car, Gino gaped at the sight while Monica climbed into the passenger's side seat.

"Well? Are you coming or not?" Luciano asked irritably, snapping Gino out of his thoughts.

"Oh, right." Gino said awkwardly, opening the door and sitting down in one of the cramped seats in the back of the car.

"Are you comfortable back there?" Monica asked with a hint of concern, but Gino waved her off.

"No, I'm perfectly fine." He replied, thankful that Monica seemed to be much more sympathetic.

Grumbling under his breath, Luciano backed his car out, appreciating the roar of the engine as he pressed on the gas pedal.

* * *

"This is a department store." Luciano said as he walked into a large building with Gino and Monica in tow.

"I'm not retarded, you know." Gino snapped in reply.

"Could've fooled me." Luciano muttered under his breath, not caring if Gino heard him or not, although he was quickly smacked upside the head by Monica.

Ignoring the comment, Gino walked straight into the men's section, where an attendant immediately came to help him. She quickly noticed his manner of dress and smiled in the knowledge that she could easily fleece the man.

"Hello there, how can I help you today?" She asked, hoping to take advantage of the man.

"Yes, please just get me a ready to wear suit. I don't believe that we have the time for a bespoken suit. And please don't skimp out on me, I can read." He answered quickly, catching her by surprise. She had not expected him to even have any idea what he was looking for, much less understand anything about suits.

"R-right away." She replied, quickly shuffling off to find something appropriate for him.

Gino gave a sigh of relief as he finally removed the scratchy shirt he had worn all day and exchanged it with a much higher quality dress shirt. At the same time, he was disappointed in himself. It seemed like, even though he had been living a much more conservative lifestyle recently, his expensive tastes were still in place.

"Hey, just come on out, we don't have all day." Luciano yelled, anxious to leave the store. He was currently sitting on a chair outside of the dressing room while Monica leafed through a magazine next to him.

"All right, all right." Gino replied, stepping out.

As he did, he immediately noticed some heads turn to him, including Monica's. He was dressed in a crisp white dress shirt that contrasted heavily with the pitch black suit he was wearing, complemented by a solid red tie.

"Gino, that suit looks perfect on you!" She said happily, giving him a thumbs up.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, we're all impressed. Now can we get out of here?" Luciano added impatiently.

* * *

"Where exactly do we need to go?" Gino asked as he adjusted one of his cuffs in the backseat of Luciano's Mustang.

"We're going to the Ashford Club. It's where Lelouch vi Britannia is rumored to hang out." Luciano replied as he stopped at a red light.

"Wait, we're going straight in? I've barely been prepped!" Gino yelled out in surprise.

"Look, all you need to know is that we'll be posing as two new hopefuls to join the Royal Family. We can't be afraid to get our hands dirty, but we can't also act too aggressively, that would just be overacting. Trust me. It'll come off better if you act naturally. Just let us do the talking and you should be fine." Luciano reassured in a strangely comforting tone.

Slowly, Luciano pulled the car to a stop in front of a lively club. Luciano got out first, walking over to the passenger's side to open the door for Monica, who stepped out with a seductive sway of the hips, followed by Gino. Spotting the bouncer, she waltzed up to him as Gino looked on in interest. She reached up on her toes to whisper something in the large man's ear, and immediately, he stepped aside to let them through.

The door opened and they were immediately bombarded by loud music and the sight of gyrating bodies. Gino crinkled his nose in distaste. He had never been a fan of clubs like this, and usually tried to avoid them, but if this was what was required of him, then he had no choice but to follow along with Luciano. Monica gave them a look before she headed off on her own.

"I'm going to look around, just try to blend in." Luciano said before he walked off as well, leaving Gino by himself.

Not really in the mood for dancing, he pushed his way through the mass of people, reaching the bar, which consisted of a glass counter and a large collection of bottles on the wall behind the bartender.

"Hey, just get me a Gin and Tonic." Gino said to the bartender, who nodded and ducked under the bar.

"Hey handsome, you new in town or something?" Gino looked up to see a buxom blond woman in a tight yellow dress lean up against the bar next to him.

"Yeah, I just floated in a couple weeks ago." Gino replied, thanking the bartender for his drink before turning back to her. He remembered Luciano's advice and tried to keep his answers as short as possible.

"So what's your name?" The woman asked.

"I might ask you the same thing." Gino responded.

"Milly." The woman answered, holding her hand out to shake.

"Gino." He replied, taking her hand.

"So, Gino, why is it that you've waited until now to come to the most popular club in Area Eleven?" She asked, taking his drink and sipping a bit of it.

"Why exactly do you want to know?" Gino asked accusingly.

"I'm curious." Milly responded innocently.

Gino smiled slyly, "Well I'm curious as to why you're so curious."

"You're funny, you know that?" Milly said with a giggle.

"So I've been told." Gino replied, leaning back in the raised wooden chair he was sitting in.

"All right then, Gino, do you like dancing?" Milly asked, but Gino spotted Luciano across the floor, gesturing to him.

"Look Milly, this has been nice and all, but I've got to go. I've got some business to take care of." He said, leaving before she could say another word.

He made his way to Luciano, who gave him a knowing look.

"Who was that?" He asked coyly.

"Just some girl. You told me to blend in right? Well, that's what I did." Gino responded, making it clear to Luciano that he should drop the subject.

"All right, he should be in the back room. Follow me." Luciano whispered to Gino. The orange haired man walked up to a man in a suit.

"Hey, we were told that we might be able to find Lelouch vi Britannia in here?" He asked the man, who leered back.

"Yeah? Who's looking?" He asked, suspicious.

"Me and my friend are looking for some work." Luciano added, pointing to Gino.

Staring Luciano down for a moment, the man studied the orange haired man before nodding.

"All right, follow me."

The man immediately began showing his way through the dance floor while Luciano and Gino followed closely behind. Finally, he reached a closed door next to the bar, where Gino could see Monica drinking with some suspicious looking men, and knocked twice.

"Who's there?" A voice barked from the inside.

"I've got two guys who say they're looking for work." The man replied.

"Do they look like cops?" The voice questioned.

"Nah, not really."

After a short pause, the door opened to reveal a tall Eleven man armed with a katana.

"Are these the two?" He asked gruffly, to which the other man nodded.

"Okay, come along." He said, stepping out of the way to let Gino and Luciano through.

With a gulp, Gino nodded as he was prodded along until they were face to face with the back of a chair.

"Lelouch, these two guys are looking for work." The man said, causing the chair to turn around, revealing a black haired man with piercing violet eyes dressed in an expensive suit.

"Thank you Tohdoh." He said, examining the two closely.

"Now, I'll ask you two one question I ask everyone who says that they are looking for work. Are you two cops?" He asked in a powerful voice.

"No." Luciano replied coolly.

"How about you?" Lelouch asked, turning to face Gino.

"No." Gino answered after taking a breath to calm himself.

"Are you two sure you're not lying? If you tell me now, I'll let you go. But I swear, if you two are lying, you will be put in so much pain that you would regret being born. So, is there anything you would like to tell me?" Lelouch asked, the threat clear in his facetious tone.

"No." Luciano repeated.

Seemingly satisfied, Lelouch sat back in his chair.

"All right then, if you say so. Now, I would like to know why you two are looking for work."

"We just got off the front lines in the EU and we heard that if we wanted to be anybody in this town, that we should talk to you." Luciano lied.

"Smart people." Lelouch remarked, "Because it's true. I am the true mayor of this town, whether or not the government wants to admit it or not. But you should know that I don't give these opportunities to just anyone. Give me one good reason why I should take you in. You need to understand that I run a considerable risk with every new recruit I get."

"You'll be fucking sorry if you don't. Is that good enough for you?" Gino growled back in response, drawing a look from Luciano.

Lelouch looked at the man for a moment before bursting into laughter.

"You know what? I like your attitude. Tell you what, I have a job for you two to prove your worth to me. There are some men who owe me money down at the docks because they are terrible at chess. Rough them up a bit and get me my money, and then, we'll talk more."

"All right, consider it done." Luciano said confidently.

"Ah, confidence. I like it!" Lelouch said with a smile on his face.

* * *

"Okay, what the hell was that?" Luciano said, pushing Gino as soon as they walked out of the club.

"You said that we would get our hands dirty. Well, I'm getting my hands dirty." Gino snapped back.

Luciano ran a hand through his hair, "You could have gotten us killed with that comment!"

"But we didn't." Gino replied, leading to silence from Luciano.

"You're fucking crazy, you know that?" Luciano sighed as he hopped into the driver's seat.

"Look, I know how to talk to guys like him. You can't beat around the bush. You should just go straight at them." Gino said, sliding in next to him.

"Oh, and I suppose you know something about meeting with gangsters?"

Gino leered at him, "Actually, I do. My dad got involved with them when I was younger and I used to spend time around some of the gangsters of the mainland, so yeah, I think I have some experience. My father was a terrible person, but I guess that at least I learned something useful from him."

Surprised by Gino's words, Luciano kept his mouth shut and his eyes focused on the road. This was not what he had expected to hear from the blond, not at all.

* * *

"All right, those are the guys." Luciano whispered to Gino as they approached a group of businessmen huddled together in a circle.

"Hey, Mr. Britannia told us that you haven't paid him back your gambling debts. Now, would you like to pay, or are we going to have to do this the hard way?" Luciano asked threateningly.

"Hey buddy, nice try. But we're not paying. He cheated us." One of the men replied.

"All right, I asked." Luciano shrugged his shoulders before he let his fist fly right into one man's mouth, knocking him to the ground.

In response, another one immediately knocked him to the ground, where they began struggling.

Gino quickly glanced around, counting six men in all. One was unconscious on the ground, courtesy of Luciano's fist, and another was struggling on the floor, leaving Gino to fight the last four.

"All right, I'm guessing you don't want to talk about this." Gino quipped, leading to one man charging straight at him.

Gino quickly stepped to the side of the man before sticking one foot out behind the man and flipping him onto his back with his arm. The man fell to the ground with a thud and immediately, Gino was on top of him, pinning him to the ground.

However, while he was focused on the man on the ground, he had neglected the other three, who pulled him off of their friend.

Assuming a defensive stance, Gino tried to analyze the situation, but decided against it, instead letting loose a kick into one of the men's side. Sensing an opening, he ducked under a clumsy punch and head butted another man's chest before using his leverage from his lower position to raise the man up and drop him violently to the ground.

"All right, two down, two to go." He muttered, turning to face the two remaining men, one of whom was holding his side in pain. Deciding to focus on that man first, Gino swept out his legs, knocking him to the ground, where he rolled around, groaning.

The last man looked around frantically before he found a crowbar, which he swung angrily at Gino, who caught his hand before the metal could meet his face. The two grappled back and forth, vying for control over the crowbar, until Gino chose to knee the other man in the stomach, causing him to keel over in pain, allowing Gino to kick the man straight in the head, knocking him out cold.

Meanwhile, Luciano had managed to subdue his assailant as well, and hobbled over to Gino, nursing a few bruises.

"You took those four out by yourself?" Luciano asked in surprise.

Gino nodded and for the first time, Luciano gave him a smile.

"I have to say, I am actually impressed by that."

At Luciano's words, Gino couldn't resist the smile that came to his face as well.

"Come on, let's get the money and go." Luciano said, reaching down to search one of the men's pockets.

"Doesn't this seem a little bit like we're breaking the law?" Gino asked as he followed suit.

"Gino, sometimes to save the law, you have to break it."

* * *

**I know I made it seem like Gino was going to progress through the story with a partner and solving cases, but I think that it would end up being much more interesting for him to be undercover. It may detract a little from the noir feel, but I think that it would offer more diverse and interesting situations than the case by case format my story would have had to take. Without that format, I think I can write a much more cohesive story, which will end up with a stronger narrative and stronger characters. **

**So, I would really appreciate any thoughts or ideas, either in the form of a PM or a review!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Thanks to HumanKnotGirl and firelordzuko for your reviews. I really appreciate them and I hope that they keep coming. Besides that, I hope you enjoy this next chapter, as it will be my last upload before school starts up again for me. **

* * *

Chapter 3

_"All right, Gino. Since Mommy's out of the house, Daddy's just going to meet with some men, all right?"_

_"Okay." Gino responded, not really caring, too absorbed with playing with his action figures. His father took his hand and led him inside of a room, at which Gino immediately covered his nose. The room was filled with blasting jazz and the sound of pool balls being knocked around and reeked of the stench of smoke and alcohol. In the dim light, he felt something sticky on his shoe, but he couldn't tell what it was exactly._

_"Oh, hell no, Weinberg, you brought your son along?" He heard a man in a suit say._

_"Hey fellas, how's it going?" He heard his father respond cheerily._

_Gino looked around fearfully, spotting a small couch next to a bright lamp. Deciding that the couch looked as good a place as any, Gino scampered over to the piece of furniture and climbed on, pretending that he and his action figure were scaling a mountain. As he reached the top, he sat back and reclined into the squishy cushions, tossing his toy up and down in the air._

_He suddenly heard the door open and immediately, the room was silenced. In the doorway stood a gray haired man in an expensive black suit, flanked by two younger and taller men in similar dress. As he walked in, Gino could sense the respect the man commanded as everyone immediately shut their mouths, making the room so quiet that you could hear a pin drop. With each step, the man's slightly oversized dress shoes slipped off his foot a little, making a distinct clacking sound as he walked along the hardwood floor._

_Suddenly, the man stopped and looked in Gino's direction, immediately frightening the six year old. The man's lips curled up into a smile and he strode towards him, Gino whipping his blond hair around as the man approached, looking for anyone else the man could be heading towards._

_Before long, the man was towering above him, sharp teeth showing in a crooked smile, looking almost like a monster of some sort._

_"Hello there, what's your name?" He asked, the stench of his breath almost making Gino choke._

_"G-Gino." He stammered nervously._

_"Hm, is this your son, Weinberg?" The man asked, turning towards his father, who nodded in confirmation._

_"Ah, what a handsome boy." The man remarked, turning his attention back to Gino._

_"Do you know who I am?" He asked._

_Gulping, Gino shook his head no._

_"Goddamn it Gino!" His father yelled, standing up, but he sat down as the man suddenly glared daggers at him._

_"I mean, don't you remember this man?" His father asked sweetly._

_Actually, Gino had never met the man before in his life, but judging from his father's pleading tone, Gino sensed that he should nod his head._

_"Oh wait, I do!" Gino corrected himself, and he could see his father sigh in relief._

_"Good. You know, you have a good son, the opposite of you." The man said to his father, who laughed awkwardly._

_"I'm so sorry that you are stuck with this poor excuse of a man." The man said apologetically, long gray hair running down the side of his face in torrents._

_"I still love my dad." Gino replied, to which the man chuckled._

_"The poor fool." He whispered to himself, but Gino heard, and was a bit irritated that the man would say that about him._

_"Well, if you ever want to get away from that piece of shit that you are forced to call your father, then my door will always be open." He said before walking back out the way he came, leading to a collective sigh of relief from all assembled._

* * *

"How's it look?" Luciano asked, showing Gino the cut on his lip that he had received during their scuffle.

"It's fine. Makes you look tough." Gino replied, opening the door of Club Ashford, which was still open and filled with a large crowd of people that had only dissipated meagerly, if at all. The music was still pulsating and the partiers were still partying.

Still, with his weakened state, the lights were starting to irritate his eyes and the loud music made him want to throw up. He hated clubs like this for a reason, and he couldn't understand why anyone would ever want to frequent a place like this.

"Whoa, looks like you two got into it, huh?" The large man with the suit from earlier remarked. Gino's face was smeared with small specks of blood and his white dress shirt was askew with small dirt stains, while Luciano's hair was messier than usual, if it was even possible, and his own suit was victim to a large gash in the back.

"Yeah, turns out there were six guys who didn't pay their debts." Gino said, holding up a wad of cash, "But that didn't stop us."

"Hey, good job. When you get out from meetin with the boss, I'll buy you two a round in celebration." The man said with a chuckle, leading them to the door at the back of the club and opening the door to let them in.

As they walked in, Gino, much more at ease now, took in his surroundings, which were much softer on his eyes. The door seemed to be soundproof as well because the irritating music was completely cut off by the closing of the door by Tohdoh.

For a crook, Lelouch did have expensive taste, he decided. The room looked to be made completely out of marble and large candles provided the only sort of lighting in the room, casting large shadows in all corners, almost resembling some sort of Greek temple. Small busts lined the sides of the room, and a large chandelier filled with candles was displayed prominently in the center of the room.

"So, how did the job go?" Lelouch asked, noticing the presence of the two men.

Wordlessly, Gino held up the cash and placed it down on his desk.

"Good work you two." Lelouch said with a smile, leafing through the bills, plucking two out and handing them to Gino and Luciano respectively.

"Keep it up, and you'll find that a lot more where that came from." He said, waving them off.

"Tohdoh, write down their contact information." He ordered, "We'll be in touch."

They walked out and they were met by the man from before.

"All right, so, what'll we be having?" He said with a smile.

"I'm fine." Gino said, walking off on his own while Luciano ordered a round of beer with the man, who had introduced himself as Minami.

Noticing that Gino was about to leave, Milly stopped dancing and ran up to him as best she could in her heels.

"Gino!" She exclaimed, and he turned around, causing her to gasp in surprise.

"Gino! What happened to your face?" She asked, gently touching one of the bloodstains on his face.

"I'm fine." He insisted, but she gripped his arms tightly.

She shook her head in disapproval, "You're not, look at you, you're bleeding all over the place. What did you do?"

"Nothing. I just completed a job." He insisted.

She shook her head in disbelief, "Gino, tell me the truth, are you involved with them?"

"What do you mean?" He asked.

"You know what I mean. Are you working for Lelouch?" She asked, scared to hear the answer.

"Yeah, I am." He admitted.

"Gino, trust me, you don't want to get mixed up in all this. Please, tell me you'll think about quitting." She pleaded, but he shook his head.

"No, this is something I've gotta do." He replied.

"No, you don't. Look, I've seen how guys end up in this line of work. Either they end up dead or wishing that they were dead."

"Why are you so concerned about me? I barely even know you!" Gino yelled, drawing a few stares.

Milly sighed and dropped her hands, "It's just, I've seen guys like you before. Bright guys, with a future. You shouldn't waste your life like this. You're going to end up like every other guy in here, in jail or in a grave."

"Well, we've all got to die at some point. It's just a matter of when. If my time comes, then it comes."

She began backing up from him and turned to leave, but not before giving him one last glance, "I guess if you're sure, then I won't try to change your mind."

* * *

_"Hey Gino! Let's go hang out at the bar today." Colin said to his friend, who nodded in agreement._

_"Yeah, I'm not really in the mood to go to my mom's party." Gino replied. As a member of one of Britannia's noble families, he was often forced to attend dance parties hosted by his neighbors._

_But he usually hated going to those events. They were just excuses for the nobles to kiss up to each other, and he was disgusted by them. He much preferred the company of his friends at the bar, which his father had first introduced him to when he was six years old. Since then, he would sneak out of the house regularly to get out of having to attend parties, instead choosing to talk to his friends._

_As he walked in, signaled by the ringing of a bell, he was immediately greeted warmly by several men in expensive suits. While Colin went off to play some pool, Gino immediately searched for a familiar face framed by long gray hair._

_"Hey Gino, are you looking for work, or are you just trying to get out of another party?" His confidant and the man he considered to be his true father asked._

_"You know my mother has a problem." Gino replied, causing the gray haired man to laugh heartily._

_"All right Gino, so, should I get you a drink or something?" The man asked, finally catching his breath._

_"No, I'm good. I just wanted to talk to you about something." Gino admitted leading the man to shift over on his seat on the couch in the corner. Gino walked over and sat down on the squishy cushions next to the man, who looked at him with a concerned look._

_"All right Gino, what's on your mind?" The man asked._

_Gino shifted awkwardly, suddenly not sure that he wanted to talk._

_"You see, there's this girl that I've been thinking about recently…" He blushed, not wanting to continue on._

_"Gino has a crush? That's the way to go Romeo!" One of the men yelled out, leading to a chorus of laughter, but a glare form Gino immediately shut the men up._

_"Well, Gino, what's the problem then?"_

_He sighed, "Well, my parents don't really approve because she's an Eleven, but I don't see a problem with it."_

_The man placed a hand on his chin and thought about it before speaking, "Well, I don't personally approve of it, but Gino, I think that if she makes you happy, then you shouldn't let anyone stop you."_

_Smiling, Gino stood up, "Thanks. You always know what to say."_

_"No problem, Gino. Like I've always said, I'll always be here for you."_

* * *

Gino awoke to his alarm blaring and he immediately sprang out of bed, ready for a fight, but relaxed once he realized that it had just been his alarm. He pressed the snooze button and buried his face in his hands. He had slept restlessly all night, suddenly more paranoid. He had been afraid that Lelouch had found out about his police ties and was going to send in men to kill him, but they never came.

"I guess that I'm alive for one more day." He groaned, head aching from the lack of sleep.

Suddenly, his cell phone began ringing and Gino briefly glanced at the caller id before he flipped it open.

"Gino? This is Lelouch. I need you to get to the club as soon as you can. And wear dark clothes, you're going to need them." The voice said.

"All right, consider it done." Gino replied, snapping the phone closed.

He stood up and stretched out, groaning as he felt his muscles loosen up.

"Another day." He mumbled.

* * *

Gino strode in, dressed in a black long sleeve t shirt and dark colored jeans, noticing Luciano and several other men were dressed similarly.

During the day, the club was completely abandoned and Gino was thankful for it. He honestly could not have lasted any longer in here after the night he had just had.

"All right, we're all here now. Let me tell you all what's going down. Clovis is dead, and now, some hotshot named Calares thinks he can take his place. Well, Clovis was my brother, and I will not let that happen." Lelouch said, calmly handing Gino an assault rifle.

"Wait, what exactly are we going to do?" He asked, inspecting the rifle. It was military grade and definitely should not have been in the hands of civilians, although he knew that the Royal Family had connections within the military to smuggle out weapons.

"What does it look like? The prick is going to get whacked." Lelouch replied, leading the group out of the club and into a van parked outside of the club. Gino nervously slid into the back of the white van along with Luciano and Minami.

The van jerked and Gino knew they were on their way.

The van slowly began losing speed, and Gino knew that they had reached their destination. The door opened up, revealing Tohdoh and Lelouch standing with their guns at the ready.

"All right, Gino, Luciano, you two lead since you're the two newest. If you two survive, consider yourselves part of the gang." Lelouch stated.

Nodding, Gino hopped out, followed by Luciano, who fiddled around with his rifle. Gino looked at where they were parked, which seemed to be an abandoned warehouse on the edge of the Tokyo Settlement.

He took a deep breath to prep himself and he moved up to the door. He raised up his knuckles and knocked on the door twice before backing up and aiming his rifle at the doorway. He heard footsteps and his finger instinctively twitched in anticipation.

Adjusting his rifle a bit, he saw the doorknob twist and as the door opened up, he immediately opened fire, striking the surprised man in the chest twice.

"Go!" Lelouch yelled, and Gino immediately ran in and turned to his right, where a surprised gang member tried to aim his pistol and fired, hitting the man straight in the head and sending blood flying. Behind him, he could hear Luciano and Minami storm in and fire away. At the same time, he noticed Lelouch back out of the door, knowing that it was safer for him outside.

Acting on instinct, Gino dove behind a pile of crates and heard wood splintering as shots were fired at him. He looked around him, trying to take in his surroundings. The bottom floor was largely open ground, except for the crates that they were taking cover behind. At the end of the floor, there was a large metal staircase which led up to an office at the top. Most of the men were firing from above on the staircase, but there were still a few left in the open floor, although they were quickly being cut down by Tohdoh and Luciano.

Quickly popping out of cover, he sighted and fired at one of the men, killing him instantly.

"Wow, Gino, the army was good to you, wasn't it?" Minami asked in awe before firing and killing a gang member of his own.

"I guess." Gino replied, quickly sprinting to another piece of cover closer to the stairs to the second floor. Behind him, he could feel shots narrowly missing his legs as he dove forward to the safety of another crate. Placing his back up against the wood, he fished out an ammo clip and jammed it into his gun after popping out his empty clip. Dropping the empty clip to the floor, he took a deep breath as he contemplated his next move.

Deciding to act quickly, Gino vaulted over the crate and began firing on the surprised men, painting the wall behind them with blood. Taking advantage of their enemies' confusion, Minami, Luciano, and Tohdoh easily killed the remaining men, leaving the stairs a mess of blood and limbs.

"I think that this floor's clear. Come on, we have to get up to the office." Gino ordered, leading the group up to the stairs.

Taking careful steps as to not slip on the blood on the metal stairs, Gino scaled the staircase with ease, making his way to in front of the office door.

"Stay back! I'll shoot you! I swear!" Came the voice from inside.

Ignoring the threat, Gino kicked the door down, revealing a single man with a pistol inside.

"Well?" Gino asked before he fired away, cleanly killing the man with one shot to the heart.

Panting, Gino dropped his gun and tried to catch his breath, coming off of his adrenaline high.

"Wow! That was pretty amazing what you did back there!" Minami said, patting Gino on the back.

"Yeah, good job." Tohdoh added.

"It was nothing." Gino replied sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head.

"All right, let's get out of here before the cops show up." Luciano urged causing the others to nod in agreement and to run away.

* * *

"Excellent job out there." Lelouch said with a smile, placing his hands on Gino's shoulders and then on Luciano's.

"We just did what we had to do." Gino replied, leading to Luciano to nod in agreement.

"Well, regardless of that, I take notice of actions like yours. You two are doing an excellent job right now for me and I think that I could really use more men like you. Welcome to the Royal Family." Lelouch said with a smile.

"Thank you." Gino and Luciano replied in unison.

"All right, now get out of here." Lelouch said cheerfully, but as Gino was about to leave, he suddenly felt Lelouch's hand on his shoulder.

"Not you. Gino, I want to talk to you."

Gino turned back nervously and sat down when prompted by Lelouch.

"Gino, I'll be honest, I don't usually place much trust in my new recruits." Lelouch started, leading Gino to gulp in fear.

"But, on the other hand, Minami and Tohdoh told me about how you handled yourself today under pressure. You took control of the situation and led my men to victory."

"Well, I wouldn't really say that…" Gino replied, but he was cut off by another voice.

"It's true." Tohdoh stated as he walked up next to Gino.

Lelouch pointed his finger at Tohdoh, "See? I respect Tohdoh and his opinions. When he says something, I am inclined to believe it. Are you calling him a liar?" Lelouch questioned.

"Not at all." Gino stammered quickly.

Lelouch smiled and leaned back into his chair, "Good. Now then, let me move on to my actual business. Like I stated earlier, my brother Clovis is dead, and it is a sad occasion that leads to some upheaval. I am required to attend a meeting in which we will make the tough decision of dividing up Clovis' territory."

"Okay, I'm listening." Gino said, not really sure what Lelouch was getting at.

"I want you to accompany me to the meeting. I only want to bring along guys that I can fully trust, and to be honest, I don't really know if I can count on your friend. He seems like he's honest enough, but I can't shake the feeling that he's a rat." Lelouch said, leading to a surprised look from Gino.

"Really? You want me to accompany you?" Gino asked incredulously, to which Lelouch nodded.

"We'll be leaving for the mainland, where my father is still based, in a few days, so come around the club by the end of the week."

"You got it." Gino replied happily, glad that he was getting such an opportunity so early. However, he had to stop himself once he realized how excited he was getting. He had to remember that this was just all an act to get at the Royal Family, and that he wasn't really trying to move up in the gang. But still, it felt good to be recognized for something.

Suddenly, he realized something.

"The mainland…" He whispered to himself and suddenly, his eyes widened as he made the connection.

"No, he couldn't be…" Gino whispered to himself.

"Is something wrong?" Lelouch asked, but Gino shook his head.

"Nope, I'm perfectly fine." He replied with a smile, but underneath, he couldn't shake the uneasy feeling he was suddenly getting.

* * *

_"Hello Gino, how are you doing today?"_

_Gino smiled as he was greeted by his friends._

_"Hey guys, where's the boss?" He asked, glancing around._

_"He's out on a job." One of the men replied, taking a swig of his beer._

_Gino nodded in understanding, "All right, do you know where he's at?"_

_"I think he's down by the dump, right?" One of the men said to the others, who nodded in agreement._

_"All right, thanks." Gino replied, walking out of the door and hopping onto his motorcycle. He revved the motor once and sped off in the direction of the dump._

* * *

_He approached the open gate of the dumb and immediately gagged at the overwhelming smell._

_"Someone could hide a dead body in here." He muttered as he stepped inside._

_As soon as he did, he suddenly heard yelling._

_"Help! Help!" He heard a voice scream._

_"No one's coming to help." He heard a familiar voice._

_Gino ran in the direction of the voices, coming to an open patch of dirt where two figures present. One was on his knees while the other was pointing a gun at the back of his head._

_Silently, Gino approached the two, who did not notice him._

_He noticed the figure with the gun take a deep breath and fell to the ground as a gunshot rang out. The man didn't make a sound as his lifeless body collapsed to the ground._

_"Gino?" The man with the gun asked, noticing the blond._

_"What was that?" Gino asked nervously._

_The man sighed and shook his head, "Well, I never told you about it, but here's the truth. This is my job."_

_"No! But I thought you were a good person!" Gino cried out in amazement._

_"I am…" The man started, but Gino shook his head._

_"No. If you were, then how could you have killed that man?" He yelled._

_"Look, Gino, I know that it seems bad, but this guy deserved it."_

_Gino felt his world suddenly shatter. He had once held a perfect image of the man standing in front of him with a gun in his hand and blood on his clothes. He had acted as a father, one who actually cared about him, unlike his real father, who was too busy working or getting drunk to even pay him any mind. He had acted as a friend, someone who he could confide in when times were tough. He was a teacher, someone who taught him about life and all of its intricacies._

_But this man was also a murderer, someone who killed for no reason beyond money and greed. He was a liar and a sinner, everything that Gino had once thought he was not. Sure, he knew the man was a drinker, but he had always thought that drinking had been his one vice._

_Or maybe he had always known the truth, somewhere in the back of his mind. He had been unwilling to confront the truth in the past._

_But now, here it was, staring him right in the face, and he could not deny it. This man was not who he had thought he was._

_"Gino….I" The man began, but couldn't continue once he saw the confused look in Gino's eyes._

_Gino knew that he had to get away. He couldn't stay here anymore, not when the only man he had thought he could trust turned out to be a criminal, and where his love had been forbidden by his parents. He didn't know where he was going to go, but he had to get away as soon as possible._

_"I just came to say that I'm going on a trip, and I might be gone for a while." Gino said detachedly, standing up._

_The man nodded, knowing the underlying message behind Gino's words._

_"I understand. Goodbye, Gino."_

_"Goodbye, Charles."_

* * *

**I know that it seems like it doesn't make sense at first, but let me be clear. Gino was a child when he first met Charles and his gang, but since he was still young, they never really revealed to him what their occupations were, so he had no idea that they were gangsters, although he always had an inkling. Also, as a result of that, Gino never realized that Charles was the head of the Royal Family, which explains why he never realized that before.**

**Now that I got that out of the way, I hope you guys still enjoyed the chapter, even if it required extra explanation. I think that the relationship between Gino and Charles will make for some more interesting conflicts of interests, much like for Javert in Les Miserables, who came across a conflict in his devotion to law and his moral conscience, not to say that it'll end the same way for Gino, as that would be a disappointing end for everyone, including myself. **

**I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter and I would really appreciate any and all thoughts, either in the form of a PM or a review. Thanks agains to everyone reading this story! I really appreciate everyone who reads this story!**


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